Because Fandoms Were Made To Be Mixed

Jan. 16th, 2017

Jan. 16th, 2017

So, today turned into another day of ADVENTURE! Mom had located three new houses for us to look at, so after I had breakfast and she finished some cleaning, showered, and got dressed (and I did some writing on Chapter 11 of "Remembering You" -- redoing fight scenes, yay?), we headed out. Drove over to the library to drop off some movies that needed returning, then went up the highway to Warwick, then around to West Warwick, then over to North Providence. Saw all three houses along this rather roundabout route, ended up crossing them all off the list (too run-down, too close to the neighbors (like, house next door was almost literally in the backyard), and in a little hollow that seems primed for flooding). So Mom had me get on Rt 146 to merge onto Rt 95 South so we could go home. Now, up until now, my driving's been all right. There's been a couple of short stops, some time stuck behind slow-movers, me almost going the wrong way (fortunately I hadn't really started going into the wrong lane before Mom pointed me right), but otherwise things had been going well.

And then I get into the mess that is 146 merging into 95.

I get stuck behind a Peapod (grocery deliveries) truck for a while, and then another lane merges in. A girl next to me starts trying to get over. I try to speed up to make sure she can get behind me, but it's not going so well -- fortunately, eventually we manage to merge properly. But while that's going on, this other guy in a black SUV starts trying to merge over too. The first time, he takes a look and stops. I speed up again, because I've lost some speed from a lane change and the stuff with the other girl, and suddenly this guy starts trying to merge in again --

And then, BANG! He hits the rear bumper.

Just like that both Mom and I are panicking -- Mom's telling me to brake, and I'm internally like "IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING HIGHWAY" but I manage to get my turn signal on and make it over to the side of the road -- what there is of it, as we're on a busy section of 95 right by the mall. Mom gets the hazards on and calls 911 -- while the SUV speeds away down the highway. We do our best to get the license plate before he's gone, and then it's waiting for the state trooper while Mom tries like five times to call Dad before getting him on the line. And I'm just freaking out because, well, I'm on a learner's permit and I'm freaking terrified somebody is going to call this my fault no matter what.

State trooper arrives, verifies we're okay, then has us go up to Atwells Avenue so we can get out of traffic. I have a moment with putting on the windshield wipers trying to put on the turn signal (which I'd already put on, but -- freaking out), but nothing else happens and we successfully park by a curb, and Mom gets out to assess the damage.

BY SOME FUCKING MIRACLE, IT'S JUST A SIDESWIPE. As in, the guy left a scrape of black paint on the car and the tire, but there's not even a fucking dent. Trooper comes up and gets our info, says he ran the number we provided but nothing's coming up. Mom says she's not going to worry too much about it since there's not any actual damage to the car, and -- well, I'm just crying at this point. Trooper gives back my learner's permit, we say goodbye, Mom takes over driving to get us back home.

So yeah. My first official accident as a driver. Fortunately everyone agrees that the SUV is totally the one at fault here. Still, that -- that wasn't fun. I'm still going to drive up to the mall tomorrow so I can catch the bus for work, but -- ugh. I am allowed to say "fuck that section of highway," right? Because, seriously, fuck it, it's a crappy merge section on top of assholes driving it. Not to mention the piss-poor patch job I had to drive over when we were initially going to look at houses. . . RI roads are the worst in general, seriously.

As to not end this on a completely sour note, things that were good today:

-->Had a double-feature of Linkara (including plot goodness) and a set of Helloween's reLP of Dead Space

-->Played some Vampire -- Harry is loaded up on Nosferatu quests now and has escaped the sewers and reported back to Isaac. I've left him outside Isaac's door so he can go back in next time and get his reward for all this nonsense. And then I might get the Gargoyle quest for an excuse to go back to LA, see Heather, and pretend to take a shower.

-->As mentioned above, got some more done on Chapter 11 -- fight scene is being reworked very nicely

-->"Lunch" was blondies with chocolate frosting. Not particularly healthy, but at the moment I don't give a fuck.